14．Parents can help their seventh and eighth grade students stand out in and out of their English classroom by introducing them to newspapers．Newspapers not only offer information on current events，but they can also be used to test your child's knowledge of grammar，vocabulary，and more．
Who，What，Where，When，Why，and How
Have your child read the first couple of paragraphs of a news story．Ask them to write down all of the important facts，such as who，what，where，when，why and how．This helps parents to see if their children comprehend the basic facts and information they read．
Grammar
Parents can monitor a child's understanding of grammatical parts of speech （詞性） without a grammar textbook．Ask your child to read a paragraph in an article and then list a specific number of nouns，verbs，adjectives，adverbs，pronouns，prepositions and the like，which serves more of a test of their grammatical knowledge．Encourage them to list each of these parts of speech in a paragraph．Then，reread the paragraph to see if they missed anything．
Persuasion
Ask your child to select an advertisement from the newspaper．Have them investigate how specific words or phrases influence their feelings about a particular product．Then，encourage them to create an advertisement of their own for an item they do not like．Tell them not to show their true feelings and try to make people want to buy this unwanted item．After that，ask them to list the persuasive techniques used in their ad．
Facts vs Opinions
Select an editorial for your middle schooler to read．Have your child divide a piece of paper into two columns，one marked fact，and the other marked opinion．Have your student decide which column it fits under．This will help your child better understand facts versus opinions．Another related exercise is responding to an editorial．Encourage your child to write letters to the editor or responses to editorials or other articles．Before your child sends his or her letter，check the opinion section to see what requirements there are．
Headlines and Synonyms （同義詞）
Ask your middle schooler to rewrite a couple of headlines using the synonyms of the original words．Compare the headlines．Do the original versions or the rewrites sound better？This is a great exercise to help students learn synonyms and expand their vocabulary．
If you find your seventh or eighth grade child is struggling with these newspaper activities，it may be an indicator that they have fallen behind in their reading skills．These activities were designed with a seventh or eighth grader in mind； therefore，while they are educational，they should be more of reinforcement （增強(qiáng)） instead of a major reading challenge．
| Outline | Supporting details |
| An approach to learning | （71）Introducing students in seventh and eighth grades to newspapers can be helpful in learning English． |
| Newspaper （72）activities | ●Ask students to read the first paragraphs of a news story and write down the important and （73）basic facts to see if they can understand them．
●Have students read an article and list different parts of speech to improve their understanding of （74）grammar．
●Select an ad and ask students to find the persuasive expressions （75）used
in it，and then create their own ad for a product they dislike．
●Select an editorial and have students （76）distinguish between facts and opinions．After that encourage them to write a （77）response/reply to an editorial．
●Ask students to write a few synonyms and compare them with the （78）original
headlines to help them with their vocabulary expansion． |
| Possible results | ●It may （79）indicate/show that a child is poor at reading if he or she has （80）difficulty/trouble
with these activities．
●These activities，designed for special graders，can not be used as a major reading challenge． |
